


You Like Me Because I'm Crazy

by JustBecause86



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 03:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18490801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustBecause86/pseuds/JustBecause86
Summary: Octavia Blake leaves her room for the first time in her life to attend a masquerade party at the behest of her brother but when things go wrong she's saved by someone she never saw coming.





	You Like Me Because I'm Crazy

**Author's Note:**

> Just my take on what might have happened had Raven been the one to find Octavia that night. Not sure if this will turn in to anything or not but if people like it I may give it a go with making it a series.

It was cold and dark but then again, it always was cold and dark when you spent the majority of your life living under the floor grates. Octavia couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t woken up on the cold floor, pipes pressing against her back and the sound air moving a constant in her ears. It felt like she was serving a life sentence in this small space.

Serving time for the crime of being born, she thinks with a huff to herself as she carefully rolls to her side. She’d been waiting for hours for her brother to come back and give her the all clear so she could spend a few short hours in their tiny room. It wasn’t much but it sure as hell beat her ‘room’ under the feet of her brother and mother.

Living aboard a run down space station, orbiting a poisoned world didn’t come with many perks and a rule had been put in place long along that outlawed having more than one child. A rule that at first seemed unreasonable but it light of the fact that resources on board continued to run low it was a rule that also made sense.

_Got to preserve the species_ , she thinks with a laugh. Unless you were unfortunate to be the second born of any family. Then your parents were floated, a nice way of saying they were shoved out the air lock and killed for the crime of having you. As for the child, well they’d remained in lock up until they were eighteen, then they would receive the same fate as their parents.

It was an ugly world to live in, though probably not as ugly as the world below them was. Nearly 100 years ago the great countries of the world decided they all wanted to be the most powerful and had launched nuclear weapons at each other, affectively covering the world in radiation. Those lucky enough to have been on the multiple space stations at that time had been the sole survivors and over time they worked together to combine their stations and build something even better. The Ark, at least that’s what the survivors decided to call it.

Nearly 100 years in space and the human race was ruled by laws that told them how much they could eat, drink and how many children they could have. Octavia couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t some better option. Then again, what other choice did she have but to wonder of something better. If she was ever caught, by anyone, she was dead.

Her choices were either life under the floor or death. Not much for choices really but Octavia often dreamed of watching the moon rise over the planet beneath them, something her brother had described to her countless times but something she would never be able to see for herself. She did what she had to in order to get from one day to the next.

She holds her breath at the sound of the door to their room open and foot steps as they enter the room. The footsteps stop at the opening to her hide away and for a second, she just knows that she’s about to be discovered.

The hatch opens quickly, and she squints against the sudden bright light from the room. Blinking away the spots in her vision she sighs loudly when she sees her brother standing over her, smile wide across his face.

“Bellamy you ass,” she spits at him, “you scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” her brother answers with a chuckle as he offers her his hand. She takes it and he pulls her out, her feet landing softly on the floor. Over the years she’s learned how to be so quiet that she nearly doesn’t exist, which legally she doesn’t. “I have a surprise for you,” he continues, smile just as broad as before.

“Bell,” she sighs as she stretches her arms above her head, “you know I hate surprises.”

“Coming from the surprise in the family,” Bellamy tries to joke.

“Don’t you mean the mistake?” she counters sorely.

“Octavia don’t say that,” he says sounding disappointed again. “You’re not a mistake, you’re my sister.”

Rolling her eyes at him she asks, “So, what’s this big surprise?”

“Here,” he says, smile returning to his features as he pulls a mask from his back pocket.

Octavia takes it from him and runs her fingers over the details around the eyes. It’s made of a soft dark blue material that feels wonderful under her fingers. Plastic gems a shade lighter dot the corners of the eyes and smaller ones circle the eyes. The mask would cover a person’s face from their middle forehead to the top of their nose, just enough to conceal who you are from anyone.

“What’s this for?” she asks, still running her fingers over the material.

“It’s a mask,” Bellamy says, still smiling.

“I know it’s a mask,” she says in a huff, “What’s it for?”

“Oh,” he says realizing his mistake, “there’s a masquerade party tonight in the observation deck for all the teenagers on board.”

“Bell, you know I can’t go to something like that,” Octavia says with a sense of defeat. She knows her brother means well by telling her about life outside their room but all it really does is depress her but reminding her of all the things she’ll never be able to do.

“That’s just it,” he says, he’s excitement nearly bubbling over now, “Everyone will be wearing these masks, no one will know who you are. You can go and have a good time, watch the moon come up and be back to the room before anyone knows. It’s perfect.”

“You really think it’ll work?” Octavia asks after a moment, trying to not get her hopes up yet.

“I know it will,” he smiles, “Plus I’m working security there so I can keep an eye on you the entire time.”

She slowly nods her head as a smile of her own starts to spread across her face, “Alright Bell, let’s do this.”

**

 

_Of course, the party is in the farthest part of the ship from our room_ , Octavia thinks after the longest, most terrifying walk of her life.

Nodding to one of the other guards Bellamy escorts her in to the observation room where loud music is playing. There are more people in this one room then Octavia had ever imagined seeing in her life and she feels her chest tighten as she takes it all in.

“Go mingle,” Bellamy whispers in her ears, “I’ll keep an eye on you and come get you before it’s over.”

“Right,” Octavia says a bit numbly as she steps away from her brother and towards the crowd of bodies. The lights were low and the music loud and Octavia watches as people dance in pairs and groups around the room in a blur.

Lights begin to flash in different colors around the room and the music gets louder, something Octavia hadn’t imagined it could, and the crowd of teenagers cheers as a new song starts to play. Octavia steps in to the crowd, hoping to fit in, and begins moving towards the large viewscreen at the back of the crowd. The lights continue to flash, and Octavia is nearly blinded by it as it reflexes off some of the clothes moving around wildly.

With all the movement and flashing light Octavia quickly gets turned around and can’t remember how to get to where Bellamy said he’d meet her. She whirls around and feels herself start to panic, her breath catching in her chest and her vision begins to narrow.

“Hey, you ok?” a soft voice says, and Octavia feels hands on her hips, steadying her. She goes to nod but feels herself becoming dizzier with the motion and stops, lifting her right hand to her temple in an attempt to clear her head.

“How about we get some space?” the voice says, and Octavia looks up to see a girl standing in front of her, red mask covering most of her face. Despite the mask Octavia can see her eyes and the concern in them. Without waiting for an answer, the girl takes Octavia’s hands and pulls her through the crowd, not stopping until they had cleared the crowd and were standing in front of the view screen.

“Better?” the girl asks, eyes still watching Octavia who manages to take a deep breath finally. “Can you talk?”

“Yeah,” Octavia answers with a sigh, “I don’t know what happened.”

“Large crowds suck sometimes,” the girl offers with a smile. Octavia doesn’t know if it’s normal to be so captivate by something as simple as s smile, but Octavia finds herself lost in this one for a brief moment. “I usually try to avoid these kinds of things, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to go once, never know who you might meet.”

“Isn’t that the truth,” Octavia says with a short chuckle. “I’m sorry about that. Not exactly the way I wanted to meet people.”

“It’s alright,” the girl shrugs, “I’m glad I could help. Plus, the view from here is always amazing.”

Octavia could have kicked herself for not even noticing where they were standing. She’d been dreaming about this view for most of her life and here she was, standing here distracted by this girl and her smile.  
Taking her first glance out the view screen Octavia nearly loses her breath again. It was more than she could have ever imagined. The earth rolled beneath them, sitting at the bottom of the viewscreen, was all blues and greens with white fluff here and there. It was nothing like she had thought, expecting it to be brown and burnt looking.

“Wow,” Octavia says in a whisper, not able to manage other words just then.

“Yea,” the other girl says watching Octavia’s reaction to the view, “it feels like the first time every time I see it too.”

Right, don’t act like you’ve been locked under the floor all your life, Octavia says to herself. She looks back at the girl and smiles.

“It’s something for sure,” she says trying to sound casual.

“Sure is,” she says, and Octavia has a feeling she’s not talking about the view out the view screen. After another moment passes, she asks, “Do you want to try dancing now?”

“You want to dance with me?” Octavia asks, not bothering to hide her surprise.

“Of course,” the girl says offering Octavia her hand. Octavia hesitates for a seconds before accepting the hand and letting herself be led back to the dance area. By the time the two had made it the music had changed from a fast upbeat song to a slow one and Octavia notices that everyone has paired off to dance together.

“I don’t know how to dance,” Octavia admits as they stop and turn towards each other.

“It’s not hard. I’ll show you,” the girls offers as she takes Octavia’s hands and places one on each of her shoulders. Then she softly rest her hands on Octavia’s hips again, moving them both in a small swaying motion as the music plays on.

“See? Easy,” the girl says as they continue to dance among the crowd.

“Are you sure this is ok?” Octavia asks. As far as she knew girls were supposed to dance with boys, at least that was how she thought it was supposed to be. Right now, though she couldn’t imagine ever wanting to dance with anyone else.

It takes a second for the meaning of her words to sink in but when they do the girl smiles again and leans down, putting her lips close to Octavia’s ear and says, “Trust me sweetheart, no one on this ship cares who anyone dates.”

The feeling of the girl’s breath on her neck as she speaks makes Octavia shiver. It was not the kind of shiver she had ever experienced in her cold space under the floor before and it was not accompanied by the usual feeling of cold either.

The girl pulls back so she can see Octavia again and even with the mask on Octavia can see that the girl is waiting to see her response.

Instead of using words Octavia lets her hands slide up the girl’s shoulders and neck until they’re both playing with the long, dark hair there. The girl smiles at the movement and they continue to dance, Octavia nearly forgetting all the other people dancing around them. As the song starts to come to a close Octavia feels the girl pull her even closer, almost like she wasn’t ready to let go.

It was a strange feeling, one that Octavia can’t remember ever feeling before, being so relaxed with another person. She had expected to feel nothing but fear and anxiety being this close to someone new like this, but it couldn’t have been further from the truth. As the last few notes play Octavia rest her head on the girl’s shoulder and breaths deeply.

The music suddenly stops, and all the lights come on, “Attention, attention,” a voice comes over the loudspeakers placed around the room. “We are detecting a large solar flare. Everyone return to your room immediately. All shields will be closing, and section doors will be locked. Please return to your rooms immediately.”

“That’s not good,” the girl says, hands still on Octavia’s hips.

“I have to go,” Octavia says almost in a daze. “I’m sorry.” She lets her hands fall from around the girl’s neck and heads towards where she thinks she’s supposed to meet her brother.

That’s when she notices the guards are checking everyone’s IDs as they leave the room. Octavia starts to panic, of course she doesn’t have an ID, legally she doesn’t exist. She turns quickly away from the guards, but one sees her and starts following her.

“Excuse me,” he says, “I need to see your ID.”

Without a word Octavia takes off in a run, not knowing where she’s going, just knowing that she needs to get away. If she gets caught, she’s dead, her mother is dead. She doesn’t look but she knows that the guard is chasing her. Rounding a corner, she feels a hand tighten around her upper arm and pull her backwards. Certain she’s been caught Octavia pulls against the force until she is pulled in to a small hatch along the side of the wall, just big enough to stand in.

“Shhhh,” a voice says, and Octavia quickly realizes it’s the girl from the dance. She had pulled her in to the small hatch and was now pressed up against her. Octavia listens as the sound of boots running grows closer before fading away just as quickly.

“I think we’re ok,” the girl says shortly after that. “They’ll circle back this way but not for a while now.”

“Why are you helping me?” Octavia says in disbelief.

“Bad habit of mine,” the girl answers with a shrug. “Why did you run? All they wanted to do was see your ID card.” The girl tilts her head as though the question had answered itself. “You don’t have an ID.”

Octavia doesn’t answer but looks down at the floor, tears starting to burn her eyes, “You need to turn me in.”

“Why would I do that?” the girl asks, sounding truly surprised by the statement.

“If you don’t you could get in trouble too,” Octavia reasons and the girl shrugs.

“I won’t get caught,” she offers. “Who’s your brother or sister? I’ll go see if I can find them.”

Octavia hesitates before answering, “Bellamy Blake.”

“Alright,” she says, “You stay here, and I’ll go find him.” She moves to leave then looks back to Octavia and says again, “Stay put.”

Octavia nods and watches as the girl slides out of the opening and disappears. Alone in the darkness again Octavia feels like she was back under the floor, the only difference being that she was actively being hunted.

What feels like an eternity goes by, in reality it was probably less than three minutes, before the girl returns to the hiding place.

“I couldn’t find him,” she sighs, “but the solar flare is coming fast and we can’t stay here. You can come to my room until we figure out what to do.” The girl says as she pulls off her jacket.

“What are you doing?” Octavia asks feeling a bit numb and unsure.

“They have a description of your clothes,” she hands her jacket to Octavia then pulls her mask off. The girl was more beautiful than Octavia had imagined. Her olive skin color made her green eyes seems to shine and Octavia found herself feel what she imagined people called butterflies in her stomach.

“I’m Raven by the way, Raven Reyes” the girl says with a smile as she carefully reaches up and pulls Octavia’s mask off, letting it fall to the floor.

“Octavia,” Octavia says in a small voice.

“Beautiful,” Raven says in a whisper and Octavia looks up at her again.

“My name?” she asks.

“That too,” Raven says with a shy smile as she replaces Octavia’s blue mask with her own red one. “All the guards went chasing after you so there aren’t any here right now. My room is close so we shouldn’t run in to too many people.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Octavia asks, knowing how bad it could be for Raven if they get caught.

Raven takes her hand and gives it a small squeeze, “Don’t let go.”

Octavia nods and Raven pushed up the door to their hide away, glancing out momentarily before stepping out and pulling Octavia behind her.

Octavia feels herself tense up as they step out of the observation room and in to the long hallway leading to the living areas on the ship. She’d never walked these halls before today and last time she had her brother with her. Octavia trusted Bellamy and had never had a reason not to, he’d never lead her in to trouble, not until tonight anyway.

“Try to act normal,” Raven says as they walk down the hallway together.

“How am I supposed to know what normal is?” Octavia whispers back.

“Alright, how about just relax a little,” Raven offers as they round a corner. Octavia tenses again when she sees someone walking towards them. She doesn’t recognize the guy and he’s not wearing a uniform so he probably wasn’t a guard, but he still could turn them in.

“Hey Raven, did you hear?” he asks as he approaches, “They said it’s going to be the biggest solar flare ever.”

“Then why are you running around out here Wick?” Raven asks, not stopping as they pass the man, who turns to follow Raven. If he notices Octavia it doesn’t show.

“To find you,” he answers with a shrug, “I didn’t see you leave the party.”

“Well, I did,” she answers, “now get to you room before you end up full of radiation.”

“Right,” he says stopping as the hallway splits, “see you after.” With that he hurries down the corridor and out of sight.

A few steps later and Raven stops in front of a door, she hits a few keys and the door whoosh open in front of them. Raven steps inside, Octavia right on her heels and closes the door, locking it from the inside.

“Fucking Wick,” Raven mumbles under her breath, “he means well but he’s an idiot sometimes. I’ll find you something else to wear.” Raven starts to pull away, but Octavia tightens her grip on the girl’s hand and pulls her back, wrapping her arms around Raven’s neck, pulling her tight.

“Thank you,” Octavia says breathlessly as she feels Raven’s arms wrap around her.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Raven answers and pulls back just enough to see Octavia’s face, chuckling a little when she sees that Octavia is still wearing the mask. “Probably don’t need this anymore,” Raven reaches up and carefully removes the mask.

Octavia closes her eyes as Raven’s fingers lightly brush over her cheeks then disappear. When Octavia opens her eyes again Raven has taken a step away from her and clears her throat.

“So, anyway, I’m going to find you something to change in to,” Raven says as she turns and starts looking through a drawer under her bed.

“Aren’t the rest of your family going to be back any second?” Octavia asks as she looks around the room. It’s nearly identical to the one her brother and mother have, only this one has drawers of engines and motors on the wall and what looks like a few old broken pieces of equipment on the table.

“It’s just me,” Raven says, pulling an old shirt and sweat pants from the drawer and standing, “My father died when I was little, and my mother drank herself to death six months ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Octavia says as Raven hands her the clothes.

“To be honest,” Raven sighs, “I lost my mother years ago. She started drinking after my father died and rarely came back to our room.”

“I’m still sorry,” Octavia says softly holding the clothes to her chest.

Raven softly lays her hands on Octavia’s shoulders and says, “Thank you.”

The station shakes under their feet and Octavia instinctively steps in to Raven’s arms.

“It’s the solar flare,” Raven tells her, wrapping her arms back around the girl. “It should pass soon.”

Octavia nods her response stay tight against Raven, who takes a slow deep breath.

“How old are you?” Raven asks after a moment passes.

“Seventeen,” Octavia answers.

“You’ve been living under the floor for seventeen years?” Raven replies in a tone of shock. “I can’t even imagine what that must be like.”

“It isn’t all bad,” Octavia says as she feels the station shake again, “though I will say that being above the floor during one of these is much nicer then under it.”

“If you want to get changed the bathroom is right there,” Raven says as she pulls back and gestures to a small door.

“Thanks,” Octavia says with a small smile and heads to get changed.

While Octavia changes Raven busies herself making some food. After racing around like that Raven knew she needed to recharge and guessed Octavia probably did too.

“I thought you might be hungry,” Raven says a moment later when she hears the door to the bathroom open behind her.

“You must be a mind reader,” Octavia almost groans when she smells the food. “After all that, I’m starving.”

Raven chuckles and answers, “Nope, not a mind reader, just a mechanic.” She offers Octavia the food she’d made for her.

“This is all for me?” Octavia says, her eyes widening at the portion of food in the bowl Raven hands her.

“One portion,” Raven shrugs, “I can manage losing one meal’s worth.” Like everything else on the ship food was closely monitored and handed out under strict rules.

“I’ve never had this much food before,” Octavia says in a small voice and Raven could kick herself for not thinking. Of course, Octavia’s never had an entire portion to herself, her mother and brother were probably giving her parts of their portions for years now.

“Guess tonight’s your lucky night,” Raven says with a smile as she sits down at the small table in the middle of the room.

“Thank you,” Octavia says, taking the seat beside her.

“You know, you’ve really got to stop doing that,” Raven says and when Octavia lifts an eyebrow in question adds, “Thanking me.”

“Oh,” she replies and swallows a mouthful of food. “It’s just I know the risk you’re taking helping me and I always thought that the first person I’d meet outside my room would turn me over in a second. I never thought I’d meet someone like you.”

Raven smiles back and says, “The feeling is mutual, believe me.” Before their conversation can go any further there is a loud knock on Raven’s door, making both girls jump.

“Hey Raven,” Wick says through the door, “the flare is over.”

“Damn it Wick,” Raven mutters under her breath before looking at Octavia, “I’m sorry but can you just step in to the bathroom while I get rid of him?”

“No problem,” Octavia says, grabbing her bowl of food and heading in to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Raven waits until the door closes before she opens the door to her room, “What Wick?” she asks leaning against the doorframe.

“The flare’s past,” he says again, looking almost out of breath.

“You said that already,” Raven sighs.

“Right, but Jaha is calling a meeting to talk about what happened at the party,” Wick explains.

“What happened at the party?” Raven asks casually.

“You didn’t hear?” Wick asks surprised.

“Everyone was running around because of the flare,” Raven shrugged, “Besides I have more important things to worry about than what everyone else is freaking out about on this boat.”

“Raven, you know you can at least pretend to care about something,” Wick says with a sigh. “Anyway, there was this girl there that took off running when they asked for her ID. No one has any idea who she is or where she went.”

Raven rolls her eyes, “Probably just someone who’s parents told her she couldn’t go and she snuck out. Who cares?”

“Jaha, apparently,” Wick answers. “Everyone is supposed to be at this meeting that was at the party, that means you too.”

“Great,” Raven huffs. “I’m in the middle of eating. I’ll have to clean up and meet you there.”

“Don’t be late,” Wick says as he turns to leave. Raven rolls her eyes again and closes the door, locking it.

“He’s gone,” she says and Octavia steps out of the bathroom.

“They’re calling a meeting about me,” Octavia says in a tiny voice. “They’re going to find me, and I’ll get you in trouble. I should just turn myself in.”

“Not a chance,” Raven argues. “I’ll go to the meeting, find your brother and we’ll work it out. You’re not turning yourself in.”

“But what if,” Octavia starts but Raven stops her with a finger on her lips.

“No. Stay here and I’ll figure it out,” Raven says again. “Promise?”

“Promise,” Octavia answers with a small smile.

“I’ll be back soon but,” Raven starts already feeling guilty for having to ask this.

“I need to hide until you get back,” Octavia says it for her.

“I’m really sorry,” Raven says as she pushes the table out of the way and pulls open the grate in the floor. “I hate to make you do this, but they could come by and check the room while everyone’s in the meeting.”

“It’s ok,” Octavia says. “I’m used to it. It’s not a big deal.”

“Feels like one,” Raven says as she offers Octavia her hand to help her step down in to the floor.

“It’s not,” Octavia reassures her placing a soft kiss on her cheek as she steps down. “I’ll be alright until you get back.”

Raven nods numbly as she closes the grate, then pulls the table back in to its place. With one last look behind her she heads out the door for the meeting.

**

“Jesus Blake you are hard to find,” Raven says as she flops down in the seat next to Bellamy.

“Who the hell asked you to find me, Reyes?” Bellamy shots back. He wasn’t trying to be a dick, but he still had no idea where his sister was. All he knew was that she hadn’t been caught, otherwise they wouldn’t all be sitting here.

Bellamy jumps when Raven leans in close to him. They were by no means friends, to be fair they had acknowledged each other in passing a few times but nothing more. They had gone to school together, but so had everyone. Bellamy was working as a guard while Raven was a mechanic, they literally never saw each other. So, what does she want?

“Your sister,” she whispers so low he’s not sure he heard her right.

“What?!” he asks shock all over his face.

“Fuck Blake, keep your voice down,” Raven hisses looking around to make sure no one was paying them any attention. “Do you want to get us all floated?”  
Bellamy leans forward, pulling Raven as close to him as he can, “What the hell do you know about it?”

“I know your dumbass thought that stupid party was a good idea,” Raven shots.

“If you tell anyone,” Bellamy starts to threaten when Raven cuts him off.

“Do you think I’d be sitting here talking to you if I was going to turn her in?” Raven snarls at him.

“Where is she?” Bellamy snaps.

“Keep your voice down,” Raven reminds, “She’s in my room. She’s safe.”

“She better be,” Bellamy says as the meeting gets called to order.

Chancellor Jaha drones on for almost an hour about the ‘incident’ that took place at the masquerade party and the importance of keeping your ID on you at all times in the event that a guard request to see it, which they can for any reason. He then advises them that one of the partygoers refused to show their ID and that they are currently searching the station for any signs of the person that, so far no one has been able to identify.

“For the remainder of the night and most of tomorrow we will be placing guards at every tunnel entrance on the station,” Jaha says and Raven hopes that the meeting is nearly over, “They will be checking IDs as we continue to search for this individual.” He pauses for a moment before continuing, “I know that, at times, the rules here may seem harsh, but they are essential for our survival. Every life aboard this ship is precious.”

Raven snorts quietly at that, earning her a look from Bellamy, and she rolls her eyes.

“I want everyone to sleep soundly tonight, knowing that they are protected,” Jaha says and steps back ending the meeting.

“Let’s go,” Bellamy says to Raven coming to his feet quickly.

“Cool it Blake,” Raven mumbles. “We go rushing out of here together and they’re going to think we’re hiding something.”

“We are,” Bellamy mumbles back.

“Hey, lose the crappy attitude,” Raven says as they begin to make their way out of the hall. “She already feels guilty enough over something that’s not her fault.”

“Sorry,” he mumbles again, and Raven rolls her eyes at him. “Come on Blake.” She doesn’t say anything else to him until after they’ve stepped inside her room.

“Octavia,” Bellamy says looking around the small room.

“She’s hiding in case they decided to search my room,” Raven explains as she shoves the table out of the way and yanks open the hatch. “Hey, you ok?” she asks in a softer voice, offering Octavia her hand.

“Yup,” Octavia answers, taking the offered hand and letting Raven help her out of the hatch. “Bell,” she says when she sees her brother and walks in to his outstretched arms. “That was scary as hell. I thought for sure they had me.”

“O, I am so sorry,” Bellamy says, wrapping his arms around her. “If I had known.”

“You can’t predict solar flares Blake,” Raven says in his defense.

“Reyes, I swear if you tell anyone,” Bellamy threatens again.

“Bell, she literally just saved my life,” Octavia says stepping back from her brother. “She could have turned me in by now, more than once,” she turns to Raven and says, “You were right by the way, about them searching your room while you were gone.”

“Damn, I was worried they’d start by searching rooms closest to the observation deck,” Raven says then adds, “You ok? I guess that was stressful.”

“A bit yea,” Octavia says now standing between her brother and Raven. “They didn’t stay long though.”

“There are a lot of rooms to search,” Raven reasons with a shrug.

“So, how are we getting her back to my room tonight?” Bellamy asks.

Raven sighs deeply and answers, “We aren’t.”

“Excuse me,” Bellamy asks. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“We can’t,” Raven replies knowing this was going to be a fight, “You heard Jaha, they’re going to have guards posted at every corridor and they’ll be searching rooms. There’s zero chance we can get from here to the other side of the ship without getting caught.”

“She’s coming home with me,” Bellamy argues. “What other options are there?”

“She stays here,” Raven shrugs.

“Not a chance,” Bellamy shoots down.

“They’ve already searched my room, so they won’t be back here tonight,” Raven reasons.

“It makes sense Bell,” Octavia says looking from her brother to Raven and back again.

“There’s no way I’m leaving you here,” Bellamy says and Raven can hear the anger in his voice.

“If you take her out of here tonight, she’s going to get caught,” Raven says.

“Then I’m staying here,” he argues back, and Raven doesn’t miss the fact that he takes a step forward.

“And what happens when they search your room and can’t find you?” Raven asks. “I’m not saying it’s an ideal situation; I’m just saying it’s the only one we have.”

“I’m not leaving her here with you,” Bellamy all but yells at Raven.

“Bell, that’s enough,” Octavia says, putting her hand in the center of Bellamy’s chest, stopping him from coming any closer to Raven. “She’s right.”

“Octavia,” Bellamy says looking down at his sister, “I can’t leave you here. We don’t know her.”

“Raven’s the one that saved me from the guards,” Octavia says her own anger rising now, “Raven’s the one that got me here, safe. Raven’s the one that’s trying to keep me safe. You,” she says poking her brother square in the chest with her finger, “are the one that decided it was a good idea to take me out in the first place. You are the one that left me at that party. You’re the one that wants to take me back out there, knowing that they’re looking for me right now.” Raven hears Octavia’s voice crack and she reaches out without thinking and places her hand on the girl’s upper arm.

“O, I’m sorry,” Bellamy says sounding a bit defeated. “I just wanted you to be able to be out of the room, at least once.”

Raven rubs small circles on Octavia’s arm, in an attempt to calm the girl some and she feels her take a deep breath before answering her brother.

“I know Bell,” Octavia says, “I know but right now the best thing I can do is stay here.”

Bellamy notices Raven’s hand on his sister’s arm and sighs, “Alright. You just need to promise me Reyes, you have to take care of her.”

“I don’t think she needs me to take care of her,” Raven says with a small smile, “but if she does, then I’ll be here.”

Bellamy doesn’t say anything but pulls his sister in for another hug, “You just stay safe and I’ll be back in the morning.”

“I’ll be alright Bell,” Octavia promises as she hugs him back.

“Reyes,” Bellamy says, looking to Raven as he steps back from his sister. She gives him a short nod and he turns and leaves the room, Octavia watching him as he goes.

The second the door closes Raven sees Octavia’s shoulders shake as she cries.

“Octavia,” Raven says quietly, and she lays her hand on the girl’s shaking shoulder. The moment her hand touches Octavia she turns and throws her arms around Raven, letting the tears fall. “I’ve got you,” Raven assures her quietly rubbing her hand up and down Octavia’s back in an attempt to comfort the girl.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared,” Octavia admits as she gains control over her emotions.

“I know,” Raven acknowledges, “but they’ve already been through here tonight, so they won’t be back. We just get through tonight and tomorrow…” Raven stops when she realizes she’s not sure what’ll happen tomorrow. What they’ll do if the guards are still everywhere and the search is still going on.

“Tomorrow we hope none of us get caught,” Octavia says as she lets go of Raven and wipes at her eyes angrily. “You’re all going to get floated and it’ll be my fault.”

“Hey, no one is getting floated,” Raven tells her taking her hands. “We’re going to sleep tonight and if it’s still not safe for you to leave then we’ll stay here tomorrow. I’m off work anyway,” she adds with a shrug and a smile. “It’d actually be nice to have someone to hang out with when I’m not working.”

“Why are you doing this?” Octavia asks.

“Because you don’t deserve to die just for being born,” Raven answers honestly. “We’ll take this one hour at a time until we figure something out.”

Octavia nods her head then sighs heavily, “I guess there isn’t much of a difference between sleeping under the floor in my room and sleeping under the floor here.”

“You’re not sleeping under the floor,” Raven objects.

“What if someone comes in during the night?” Octavia asks.

“I’ll lock the door,” Raven shrugs. “Besides, no one else lives here so no one will be coming in. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“What if they come back tomorrow to check your room again?” Octavia asks still sounding scared. “What if they notice one of the other beds has been slept in? They’ll question you and lock you up.”

“Alright,” Raven says, chewing her lip in thought. “You can also just sleep in my bunk with me. Got to be better than under the floor.”

Octavia starts, “You’d be ok with that?”

Raven shrugs, “Why not?”

“This has all been too much,” Octavia says, pressing her hand to her forehead.

“I know and I’m sorry,” Raven sighs as she leans against the side of her bunk. “If it makes you feel any better, these beds are not exactly comfortable.”

Octavia chuckles and responds, “I’ve been laying on an antique sleeping bag for most of my life.”

Damn it Raven, she scolds herself, “Guess I didn’t think about that.”

Octavia chuckles as she slides onto the edge of the bunk, letting her legs dangle above the floor.

“It’s not exactly something I can blame you for,” she says leaning towards Raven just slightly, letting her leg make contact with Raven’s shoulder. “Not like you run into someone who lives under the floor every day.”

“You are definitely one of a kind,” Raven says with a grin.

“Smooth talker,” Octavia chuckles again with a slight blush.

“Just being honest,” Raven says, turning her head enough to hide her own blush. The last thing she wants right now is to make Octavia feel uncomfortable.

Octavia yawns, followed by a chuckle, “I can’t believe it but I’m exhausted.”

“It’s been an eventful few hours,” Raven counters and stretches her arms over her head. “I’m going to double check that the door is locked but then we should probably both get some sleep.”

Octavia nods her head but watches as Raven moves around the room, making sure that things are put away and that the door is locked before turning back towards the bunks with a quizzical look on her face.

“Were you watching me?” Raven asks with a teasing smile on her face, causing Octavia to blush again. “I’m just teasing you,” Raven laughs.

“You’re an ass,” Octavia chuckles as she takes one of the flat pillows from the bed and lays on her right side, back pressed against the wall behind her.

“I have my moments,” Raven smiles as she crawls in to the bunk behind her, laying with her back flat on the mattress, as close to the edge as she could without having to worry about falling off. “Do you have enough room?” she asks, turning her head to look at Octavia.

The girl was curled up, arms wrapped tightly around her pillow, chin propped on the top, looking at Raven with tears in her eyes.

“Hey, no one is coming in here unless I let them,” Raven tries to assure her, turning on to her side to face Octavia. “You’re going to be alright.”

Octavia nods her head in answer then says in a quiet voice, “I have to go back under the floor after this, don’t I?”

The despair and pain in Octavia’s voice breaks Raven’s heart and she places a hand on Octavia’s upper arm, hoping to be comforting somehow.

“I wish there was a way I could find to get you a legal place to stay,” Raven starts but stops when she realizes this isn’t something she can fix. “I just can’t think of any way,” she admits in a low voice.

“It’s ok,” Octavia says quietly. “At least I got to be out for a little, even if it has been terrifying.”

“Try to sleep,” Raven says, rubbing small circles on Octavia’s arm. “At least you’ll get to see a face that isn’t our mother and brother’s all the time now.”

“You’re going to come visit me?” Octavia asks a bit surprised by that.

“Every chance I get,” Raven answers, her eyes drooping closed.

Octavia smiles at the woman laying next to her. The thought of Raven coming to visit her helps her to drift off to sleep.

Far too soon there is the sound of loud banging on the door causing Octavia to jump awake and for a moment she couldn’t remember where she was. It was dark and for a split second she thought maybe she was under the floor in her room, everything having just been some crazy dream, but then she realized there was something warm wrapped around her.

It took Octavia another second to realize that the warmth wrapped around her was Raven. At some point during the night Octavia had rolled over and pressed herself up around the brunette. Raven had wrapped her arms protectively around Octavia and was now sleeping soundly, her face nuzzled into Octavia’s hair.

There was another bang at the door followed by her brother’s voice, “Reyes. Open the damn door.”

As much as Octavia would have liked to savoy the feeling of being wrapped up in Raven’s arms, she didn’t want her brother causing a scene. With a sigh she says, “Raven, I think it’s morning. My brother’s here.”

“No,” Raven mumbles and buries her face further into Octavia’s hair, nose brushing her shoulder and causing Octavia to shiver.

“Reyes!” Bellamy calls again, causing Raven to huff and roll over onto her back.

“Damn it, Blake. Give me a minute,” Raven yells back, bringing her free hand up to cover her face, her other hand still tucked beneath Octavia. “Your brother can be a dick sometimes.”

Octavia chuckles as she lifts herself up on to her elbows, freeing Raven’s hand from under her, “I think you just don’t like mornings.”

“Wouldn’t be against you finding out,” Raven mutters, sounding about half asleep again.

Octavia is happy that Raven was still covering her face with her hand because Octavia could feel her face flushing again.

“Hey,” Octavia says playfully poking Raven’s side, “Better go let him in.”

Raven mumbles something Octavia can’t make out but rolls off the bunk and walks to the door, hitting it open. Bellamy steps inside quickly and she closes it behind him again.

“You’re annoying,” Raven says as she walks past Bellamy to start making something to help wake her up.

“Well, you’re lazy,” he fires back, walking straight to his sister and wrapping her in a hug as she stands from the bunk. “Are you ok?” he asks, pulling her back to arms-length to give her a once over.

“I’m fine,” Octavia complains, “What the hell do you think could have happened to me short of getting arrest?”

“Never know,” Bellamy mumbles turning to look at Raven, “There are still guards everywhere and they spent the night searching rooms.”

“So, it still isn’t safe,” Octavia says, not as upset about it as she would have thought.

“Not yet,” Bellamy answers with a sigh. “I really want to get you back to the room. I told mom what happened and she’s worried.”

“Make sure she knows I’m sorry,” Octavia says with a voice full of guilt.

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Raven speaks up after finally waking up completely. “It’s not your fault you were born.”

“As much as I hate to say this,” Bellamy says with a sigh, “Raven’s right.”

“Ha,” Raven says taking a sip from her cup, “never thought I’d live to hear that.”

“Me either,” Bellamy says with a smile. “So, what are we going to do now?”

“Wait,” Raven says and shrugs when Bellamy shoots her a look, “What? You have some great plan to make her invisible to get past all those guards?”

Bellamy sighs, hanging his head in response.

“Didn’t think so,” Raven yawns. “Luckily I have the day off so I can stay here and make sure no one comes knocking.”

Bellamy nods and says, “I do not have off work.” It was then that Octavia realizes her brother was standing in front of her in his guard’s uniform. “They want all guards on duty today to help with the search.” He looks back to Raven, “If I find out they’re coming back this way to do anymore room searches I’ll get back here and warn you.”

“Alright,” Raven nods, “We’ll just hold up in here for now then. If that ok with you?” Raven asks looking to Octavia. The surprised look that comes to the girl’s face brings a pang of guilt to Raven’s chest.

“Um, yea,” Octavia answers, “Sounds like a plan for now.”

Bellamy hugs his sister one more time and promises to come by after he finishes work before leaving for work. When the door shuts behind him the two girls are once again left alone in the room.

“Are you alright?” Raven asks after several moments pass without a word from Octavia.

“Yea,” Octavia answers quietly, leaning against the bunk, “I’ve never been asked before if I was ok with still hiding is all.”

“Ah,” Raven says as she sits at one of the chairs at the table in the center of the room, facing Octavia. “You know if I could find a way to get you back to your room right now I would.”

“It’s not just that,” Octavia shakes her head. “I love Bellamy and my mother, but they never seem to care about what living under the floor is like, or how it makes me feel.”

“How does it make you feel?” Raven asks, watching Octavia as she thinks about the answer to that question.

“Like I’m not a real person,” Octavia says in a low voice after a few moments. “Like maybe I’m just some thought up thing my mother and brother imagined but isn’t a real living thing. I feel like I don’t exist.”

Raven comes to her feet and crosses the small space between the two of them without even thinking about it. She takes Octavia’s hands in hers and swallows hard, realizing now that she has no idea what she plans on saying or doing now that she’s standing here.

“You are the most real person on this whole damn ship,” Raven says. “You have been though so much and have every reason to hate everyone here but instead you’re more worried about what’s going to happen to your mother, or Bellamy, or even me than you are about yourself. You’re ready to hand yourself over to the people who decided it was illegal for you to be born just to protect everyone else.” Raven stops shaking her head and chuckling sadly. It’s then that she realizes tears are streaming down Octavia’s face. Raven pulls her close, wrapping her arms around the girl before continuing, “You, Octavia Blake, exist and I am so damn glad that you do.”

Octavia rests her head against Raven’s shoulder and holds tightly to her.

**

Three months after the masquerade ball Raven knocks on the door to the Blake’s room, smile on her face. They’d managed to get Octavia back to the room the evening of her second day in Raven’s room, the guards having been pulled for more important duties. Within a few days it was as if the incident at the dace had never happened and life continued as it always did on the Ark.

“Reyes, what a surprise,” Bellamy says as he opens the door and she comes strolling in.

“Blake, it’s always an unpleasure to see you,” Raven says with a grin as he closes the door behind her.

  
“Ouch,” he laughs then says, “O, you’re good to come out. It’s just Raven.”

“Just Raven,” Raven repeats, giving Bellamy a look.

“You know what I mean,” he shrugs with a chuckle.

“Seriously you two,” Octavia says as she pops up out of the hatch in the floor. “I swear it’s the same every time you come over Raven.”

“Hey, everyone on this boat things I’m dating him now,” Raven says with a shrug, “Only fair I make him pay for it.”

“Ew, everyone thinks you’re dating now?” Octavia says, making a disgusted face that causes Raven to laugh.

“An unfortunate side affect of me stopping by so often I guess,” Raven shrugs in response as she sits in a chair next to Octavia.

“Hey, I’m a catch you know,” Bellamy says with a grin.

“Sorry, but you are definitely not my type,” Raven smiles back at him.

_But I know who is_ , Bellamy thinks to himself as he shakes his head.

“It’s still gross,” Octavia says again, “Besides, why do you have to be dating someone just because you see them every day?”

“It’s just gossip,” Raven sighs, “People get bored and need to have something to talk about.”

Before their conversation can continue a small alarm goes off from the watch on Bellamy’s wrist.

“Shit,” Octavia moans as she stands up and her and Bellamy pull open the grate on the floor.

“What am I missing?” Raven asks a bit bewildered.

“Surprise inspection,” Octavia answers as she steps down in to the opening.

The sudden knock on the doors makes Raven jump and Octavia disappears beneath the floor, Bellamy closing the hatch and pulling the table back over it.

“Just act normal,” he says as Raven sits back down on a chair at the table.

“Sure,” she mumbles as he opens the door and three guards walk in.

“What are you doing here Reyes?” the head guard asks as the other two begin searching for anything out of the ordinary.

“Just visiting,” she answers with a small smile.

“I heard you two were a thing now,” he sneers and sets about helping the other two guards. It takes Raven all she’s got not to roll her eyes at the man and his comment. The inspection doesn’t take long but every second that passes Raven feels like her heart is about to stop. Even though there’s no signs of Octavia anywhere in the room she can’t get rid of the fear that she’s about to get discovered.

“Looks good Blake,” the head guard says then glances at Raven and adds to Bellamy, “You two try and behave yourselves while your mother is at work.” He winks at Bellamy and is gone with a whoosh of the door.

“Fucking pig,” Raven mumbles as she helps Bellamy push the table out of the way and open the hatch. “That was intense,” she adds as she sits back down, letting her head land on the table with a small thud. “My heart was in my damn throat the whole time.”

“Were you worried about me Reyes?” Octavia asks with a sly grin as she sits at the table beside Raven.

“You know I was,” Raven says lifting her head so that she could look at Octavia. “I care about you and I don’t want to see anything happen to you.”

“I didn’t know you cared so much,” Octavia says, her smile turning genuine and growing in size. She reaches out and covers Raven’s hand with her own.

“Of course, I do,” Raven answers with a smile, “You don’t think I come over nearly every day just because I like hanging out with your brother, do you?”

“I am standing right here,” Bellamy injects as he leans against the wall, watching the two girls interact.

“Well, I’m really glad you can come over,” Octavia says still smiling.

“Me too,” Raven says back, turning her hand over and entwining her fingers with Octavia’s, giving her hand a small squeeze.

Bellamy clears his throat, causing both the girls to jump slightly. Raven cracks open the book she had brought with her and looks down at it, keeping her hand entwined with Octavia’s as she does.

“Yes, Bellamy,” Octavia says looking at her brother with daggers in her eyes.

Bellamy bites the inside of his mouth in an attempt to not smile at the sight of the two girls and says, “I have to head in for a shift. If Raven is staying.”

“I am,” she interjects without looking up from her book.

He chuckles a little but continues, “Then you need to make sure you lock the door behind me.”

“Believe it or not,” Octavia says a bit harsher then she really means to, “this isn’t my first time.”

“Ok, well you two, have fun,” Bellamy says as he heads out the door. Octavia walks over and switches the lock on before sighing heavily and turning back to where Raven still sits.

“You were a bit hard on him,” Raven offers, putting her finger in the book to mark the page and closing it partially. “And I’m usually all about giving him a hard time.”

“I just wish he would stop treating me like a child,” Octavia huffs as she sits next to Raven at the table.

“He’s just still on edge,” Raven offers, “We came really close to you getting caught at that party the other month. I’m sure he’s still rattles by it.”

“We?” Octavia says, a smile coming to her face.

Raven can’t resist the smile and she answers, “Yes, we. I think we’ve established that I’m involved now.”

“Well, I’m glad you are,” Octavia says, taking Raven’s free hand in her own. Raven watches as the girl’s expression turns dark and she says, “But if anything happens and I get caught, Raven, you have to act like you knew nothing about me. If they think you were involved in hiding me, they could…” Octavia stops but Raven knows where her minds has gone.

“Hey,” Raven says giving the hand in hers a small squeeze. “Nothing is going to happen. Even if it did,” Raven stops as she feels her chest tighten at the thought but then she continues, “I don’t think I could ever pretend that I didn’t know you, or that I don’t care about you.”

A strange thought occurs to Raven in that moment, as she tries to picture her life without the witty, wonderful girl sitting across from her. The tightness in her chest from earlier returns but this time deepens to an ache that she can’t explain. The mere thought of never getting to see the beautiful face in front of her makes her heart ache in a way she’s never known before. Not when her father had died or when she had found her mother after she had drunk herself to death in the room.

Raven looks at Octavia and feels her breath catch as she realizes what it is that keeps drawing her to this room each day. While she had been captivated by Octavia’s beauty from the beginning, she realizes now just how far her feelings have come from that first night. She’s fallen in love with the girl in front of her.

Taking another breath to steady herself Raven sits back in her seat a bit more and opens her book. I’m the only person outside her mother and brother she has, Raven scolds herself, I’m not about to ruin that for her by letting my emotions screw things up now.

“So, what are you reading about this time?” Octavia asks, having no clue about the internal realization her friend has just had.

“Thermal Dynamic Engineering,” Raven says lifting the book so Octavia can read the cover.

“What does that even mean?” Octavia asks with a chuckle.

“Basically, it means controlling the heating and cooling process inside an enclosed environment,” Raven explains. “Just more boring mechanic stuff.”

“It’s not boring,” Octavia objects. “You’re really good at this and you love it. That makes it important and I want to hear all about it.”

“You want to hear about my boring mechanic life?” Raven says with a laugh.

“If it’s important to you then it’s important to me,” Octavia says with a shrug. “Just don’t expect me to read those tech books,” she chuckles, “I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“Hey, to be fair,” Raven says, “Last week I was reading Shakespeare.”

“That’s like a play, right?” Octavia asks and Raven realizes she probably hasn’t had the chance to read as much as she has.

“Kind of yea,” Raven answers setting her book down on the table. “Shakespeare is actually the guy that wrote a bunch of plays centuries ago. Some aren’t bad. We got lucky and they had a bunch on one of the old space stations when the world went to hell. I can bring some over if you want to read them,” Raven offers.

“Sure,” Octavia grins then picks up Raven’s book off the table, “but for now tell me about Thermal Dynamic Engineering and your mechanic life.”  
**

Six months after the masquerade party Raven is laying on Octavia’s sleeping bag, that they had laid out over the top of Bellamy’s bunk, Octavia laying beside her, head resting on Raven’s shoulder. Octavia’s hand laid lazily across Raven’s abdomen while Raven read from the book in her right hand, her left slowly running through the dark hair of the girl laying next to her.

Despite Raven attempting to keep her feelings for her friend to herself the two had continued to grow close as the weeks passed. There were times now that Raven had to consciously remind herself that they were not actually dating as they tended to act like it more often then not.

Today was no different. When Raven had arrived after work, book in hand, Bellamy had already left for work. Octavia had made the suggestion they lock the door, put her sleeping bag on his bunk and lay together while Raven read out loud.

It wasn’t that Octavia couldn’t read, even though she wasn’t able to attend school like everyone else Bellamy had made sure to teach her as much as he could using his own school work, but Octavia had grown to love the sound of Raven’s voice and preferred it when she read to her.

“Hear my soul speak,” Raven read, “The very instant that I saw you, did my heart fly to your service.”

“I think I like this one,” Octavia hums, causing Raven to pause in her reading. “Do you believe in love at first sight?” she asks, and Raven feels her heart stop for a second and hopes that Octavia doesn’t notice.

“Um, I don’t know,” Raven says as she lays the book down beside her on the bunk. “I mean, I know that it’s possible to meet someone and have an immediate connection, to know that you’d do anything you can to protect them.” She hears Octavia take a sharp breath and for a moment she feels that she may have messed things up. “I mean I think that’s what that line is supposed to mean. It’s an old book, probably not anyone left alive to explain it.”

Octavia chuckles and her warm breath against the skin of Raven’s neck makes her shiver.

“What’s so funny?” Raven asks, looking down at Octavia.

“It’s just that you’re cute when you try to cover up when you say something sweet like that,” Octavia answers as she starts drawing patterns with her finger on the fabric of Raven’s shirt.

“Did you just call me cute and sweet in the same sentence?” Raven asks trying to make a joke. “I’m not entirely sure if those were supposed to be compliments or insults,” she chuckles.

Octavia raised herself up on her elbow, so she is looking down at Raven and says, “Definitely a compliment.” The look in her eyes causes Raven’s mouth to go dry and she tries to swallow around the sudden lump in her throat.

“Thanks, I think,” Raven responds, trying for a humorous voice but barely managing a whisper.

Octavia smiles and asks, “Have you ever experienced anything like that?” When Raven makes a confused face she adds, “A connection at first sight like that?”

“Um,” Raven says in an attempt to buy herself a second or two to think. Looking up at Octavia though she can only answer the truth, “Yea, once.”

A knowing smile spreads across Octavia’s lips and she asks in a quiet but hopeful voice, “When?”

Raven barks out a small laugh, she had completely let Octavia walk her right in to admitting this, “Um, about six months ago,” she answers looking away from the girl above her in fear of the rejection to come.

“Rae,” Octavia says in a voice that causes Raven to look back up, meeting the girl’s eyes. “It’s the same for me, you know.”

Raven isn’t quite sure she understands until Octavia lowers her head, gently placing her lips against Raven’s. Raven lifts her head in response, deepening the kiss just a little when she feels Octavia smile in to their kiss.

“Is this ok?” Raven asks when they break apart a few inches. Octavia nods her head and Raven pushes herself up, into a sitting position with her back against the wall and pulls Octavia to her again. Raven can barely keep the smile from her face as their kiss continues to deepen, her hand running through Octavia’s hair and Octavia’s fingers playing with the loose strands of hair on Raven’s neck.

They only break a part when there are three knocks on the door to the room, followed by two more, the code they had worked out with Bellamy so they would know when it was him at the door and not a surprise inspection.

“Of course,” Octavia growls as she pulls back slightly. “He has the worse timing,” she sighs, giving Raven one more quick kiss before hoping out of the bunk to go unlock the door.

“Took you long enough,” Bellamy complains walking through the door. “What the hell were you two doing?” he asks, and Raven feels her face flush red.

“Something going on I should know about?” he asks, crossing his arms over his chest and looking pointedly at Raven.

“Bell,” Octavia says shoving his shoulder as she walks past him, “don’t be a dick about this.” She walks back over and sits on the edge of the bunk next to Raven.

“So, there’s a this,” he says trying to sound authorize but actually just sounding confused.

“Jesus Bell,” Octavia complains. “Yes, there’s a this. There’s a Raven and me,” Octavia says but then looks to Raven for confirmation. Of course, Raven smiles and gives a nod. “Right, so that’s it. Don’t get all weird and big brother on me right now.”

“Um, right,” he says, letting his hands fall to his side, still looking confused. “I’m going to go and be anywhere else for a while.” He stops before leaving, looking back at the two girls sitting on the bunk together, his sister leaning against Raven and can’t help but smile a little. “And, Raven,” he waits until she looks at him and adds, “Don’t hurt her.”

“Not a chance,” Raven says in response. Bellamy gives her a small nod before leaving the room once again.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Octavia says with a huff but Raven starts laughing. “What is so funny? He basically just caught us making out.”

“That’s what’s so funny,” Raven says still laughing. “All the stress and worry over the last six months and your brother catches us kissing for the firs time. It’s this weird sense of relief I guess.”

“You’re crazy,” Octavia says but can’t help laughing as well.

“I think you like me because I’m crazy,” Raven says with a cocky smile on her face.

“You have no idea,” Octavia answers back as she leans forward and kisses Raven again.

**

Two weeks later and Raven is practically skipping down the corridor towards the Blake’s room.

“You know it’s scary seeing you act this happy,” Wick says as he passes her going the other direction. “Never would have thought you being in a relationship would have had this reaction on you.”

Raven knows he thinks the same thing everyone else around here does, that she’s been dating Bellamy Blake for weeks now. The thought of that still makes her cringe a little but it’s better than anyone knowing the truth right now.

“Don’t be jealous Wick,” she smiles at him, “it’s not a good look on you.”

“Not jealous, just confused,’ he admits as she passes. “I thought you kept shooting me down because you were into girls. I’m wounded.”

Raven’s only response is the laugh as she continues on her way. She doesn’t mind that the whole ship seems to think they have any right to know anything about her personal life, to be fair everyone’s love life was gossip worthy around here.

Guess it’s something to keep their minds off of running out of air, Raven thinks to herself as she rounds the last corner to the Blake’s room. She tries to push that thought out of her mind as she nears the room, her time spent with Octavia has been the best in her life and she doesn’t want anything to taint that now.

As she draws closer, she realizes something and it makes her stomach turn, the door to the Blake’s room is sitting wide open. There’s no reason they’d keep their door open like that, not with Octavia there.

With fear gripping her chest she steps in to the room and sees Bellamy sitting in a chair by the table, head down and hands laying numbly in his lap. She can just make out the sound of sniffles coming from him.

“Bellamy,” she says, her voice dripping with the fear she feels.

His head shoots up, face red and puffy from the tears he continues to shed. He shakes his head and looks down at his lap again.

“Bellamy, what the hell happened?” Raven asks, her breath coming faster with every second.

“She’s gone,” he says in a small voice.

“Gone?” Raven repeats the word, not wanting to believe it.

“Gone,” he repeats and looks back up at her. “She’s gone Raven. Octavia is gone and my mother is dead.”

“Bellamy,” Raven says as she feels the world slipping out from under her. She takes a few steps backwards until her legs hit the bunk in the wall behind her and she sits. “I don’t understand.”

“Mom forgot to lock the door,” he explains, and Raven can hear the pain in his voice, “they showed up for a surprise inspection and before we could get her under the floor they were in the room. They took her and they floated mom without even thinking about it.”

“There has to be something we can do,” Raven says feeling numb.

“Nothing,” Bellamy says in almost a growl. “They kicked me out of the guard and made me a janitor. There’s nothing I can do. They won’t even listen to me.”

“I have to see her,” Raven says pushing off the bunk. Bellamy doesn’t say anything and she’s not even sure how she manages to get her legs to work to carry her. She walks stiffly though the ship, heading towards the detention area.

Every little crime here was punishable but next to no one was held in detention, only those that were under the age of 18 and there by too young to float. Raven had never been there before, but she had seen plenty of parents as they walked the corridor after their visits. Eyes wet from tears for their child who was forced to spend their last days locked in a cell before being shoved out the air lock.

“Can I help you?” the guard asks when Raven stops by the entrance to the detention center.

“I’m here to see someone,” she says numbly.

“Sign in,” he mumbles, clearly not thrilled by his job at all. Raven scribbles her name on the sign in sheet and is admitted in to the detention center. She reads down the list of names and cell numbers and quickly find Octavia.

When she finds the cell, she steps close, looking through the small window on the upper right side of the door. What she sees makes her heart ache even more. Octavia sits with her back against the wall in the furthest corner from the cell door, her knees are drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around them. From here Raven can barely see her face.

“Tavia,” she says quietly through the small speaker on the door and watches as the girl’s head shoots up and looks at her.

“Rae,” she says and stands up quickly nearly running to the door.

“Oh Tavia,” Raven breaths, Octavia’s face was as red and puffy as her brother’s had been. “I’m so sorry.”

“They killed my mother,” she says in response.

“I know,” Raven acknowledges with a sniffle of her own. “I talked to Bellamy.”

“Is he ok?” Octavia asks tears still glistening in her eyes.

“I don’t know,” Raven says honestly, tears in her own eyes. “I don’t think either of us are ever going to be ok again. I…”

“I love you,” Octavia says when Raven stops. “I’m so sorry that this happened. It isn’t fair to you.”

Raven can’t keep the tears back at that, “You shouldn’t be worried about me.”

“I am,” Octavia answers.

“I know,” Raven responds with a sob. “I’m going to find a way to get your out of here. I don’t care if I have to go to Jaha himself. There has to be something.”

“Raven, stop,” Octavia says. “If you do that, then they’ll know you knew, and you’ll get floated too. There’s nothing we can do.”

“No,” Raven starts to argue but Octavia stops her.

“Raven,” she says in a voice dripping with pain. “You have to leave, and you can’t come back.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Raven fights back.

“You have to,” Octavia says as a sob escapes her. “In five months, I’m getting floated. I don’t want to hurt you anymore. You need to go and not come back.”

“Tavia, I’m not giving up,” Raven tries.

“On what?” Octavia shouts back. “On me? I’m dead. On our relationship? There is no relationship now Raven. It’s done, over. You need to go.”

Raven feels herself shaking her head, but she takes a few steps back from the door.

In a daze she walks to the shop she’d been assigned to, not knowing where else to go at that moment. She thinks about the pain she’d seen in Bellamy’s eyes and can only imagine what he must have felt watching his sister being dragged away from him and his mother killed, all within a few minutes.

She thinks about the defeated look in Octavia’s eyes and the words she said to make Raven leave. It was over, everything was over. In a few months the sentence would be carried out and Octavia would be gone. There was nothing and no one Raven could talk to and change anything.

The hopelessness of it all was overwhelming and Raven picked up a piece of circuit board she had been working on that afternoon and began smashing it against the work bench. She didn’t stop until she felt hands close around her wrist and pull her away.

With tears in her eyes she looked at the woman that held her wrist but couldn’t recognize her at first.

“Hey, hey,” she said in a soothing, mother like voice. “You have to slow down your breath or you’re going to pass out. Can you hear me?”

Raven nods her head but she can already see the edges of her vision blurring and the next thing she remembers the world goes dark around her.

A few hours later Raven slowly blinks awake, her head pounding and vision still blurry, she tries to sit up.

“Hey, take it easy,” the same voice from before says. Raven tries to shake her head to clear it only to find that it makes the pounding worse and she lays her head back down, closing her eyes.

“Where,” is all she manages to say.

“You’re in the infirmary,” the voice says from her left.

“What happened?” she manages to ask, opening her eyes and bringing the woman’s face in to focus. Raven has seen her around but can’t place her name. She knows she’s one of the ship doctors though.

“You passed out, bumped your head on the way down,” she explains. “You were, uh, destroying your work station.”

“Yea,” Raven says dryly, “it’s been a bad day.”

“I can tell,” the woman says. “I’m Abigail Griffin, Chief Medical Officer.”

“Nice to meet you,” Raven says in a tone that would suggest the opposite. “I’m Raven Reyes.”

“Well, Raven,” Abby says, “I don’t know what exactly happened to make you want to destroy your work station but it looked pretty bad.”

“I hate this place,” Raven says in a rough voice as she tries to hold back tears. “They just keep taking from us and adding more rules. How is anyone supposed to live like this?”

The question wasn’t meant to be answered but Abby does, “It’s not a fair life, not by a long shoot.”

“What do you know?” Raven spits in an anger that Abby doesn’t deserve.

Abby gives her a sad smile and says, “They locked my daughter up for knowing something she shouldn’t and sentenced my husband to death for the same.”

Raven is silent for a moment and a few tears escape and roll down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she says in a whisper.

“It’s ok,” Abby says just as quietly, “you couldn’t have known. Now,” she says in a slightly cheerier voice, “What is it you do around here Raven, other than destroy circuit boards?”

Despite herself Raven chuckles at that, “I’m a mechanic. Best mechanic on the ship.”

“Well, we definitely need as many of those around here as we can get,” Abby smiles.

“After today, I’m not sure I care anymore,” Raven says with a tired sigh.

“Want to tell me what happened?” Abby offers as she sits on a stool beside Raven’s bed.

Raven hesitates, not knowing what would be safe to tell this woman or not, “They took the girl I love and locked her up and in five months their going to float her. I never even told her I love her,” The tears seem to flow on their own now and Raven reaches up to wipe them away.

“I’m sorry,” Abby says wiping a tear from her own eye. “My daughter has six months before she gets the same.”

“There’s nothing we can do is there?” Raven asks the question, even though she knew the answer.

“Not right now there isn’t,” Abby answers with a sigh. “I’d like you to stay here for tonight. I want to keep an eye on you and that bump on your head,” Abby says switching back to doctor mood.

Raven goes to argue but decides against it, laying her head back down with a sigh.

**

Two months later Raven is walking down the corridor towards the medical wing when she is thrown off balance by a shutter that shakes the entire ship. She curses as her arms slams against the hard metal of the wall and she loses her balance. The lights flicker and for a second Raven isn’t sure if it’s the lights or her head but when the bulb directly overhead pops from the power surge she knows it’s the ship.

For a heartbeat she worries that one of the vital systems that keeps them all alive has finally given out. She’s been working on them for months and knows just how close to disaster they all are every day.

“Attention, attention,” a voice booms through the loudspeakers all over the ship as Raven manages to straighten her. “There was a small malfunction with drop ship six and it has launched from the Ark. There are no other malfunctions noted and the only damage was to the drop ship.”

The announcement ends and Raven continues down the hallway listening to those she passes as they freak out about what just happened.

When she reaches the infirmary, the place is eerily quiet, and Raven doesn’t see anyone around.

“Abby?” she calls in to the room. Since the day that Abby had helped her Raven had been stopping by the infirmary twice a week to see Abby. Raven missing the time she got to spend with Octavia and Abby missing having her daughter. Raven has only seen Bellamy in passing and they had barely acknowledged each other then. It too much to look at him, he reminded her of Octavia, and she thought that maybe he felt the same way about her. They’d talk about nothing and Abby would teach Raven a few medical things she might need to know in an emergency and Raven, in turn, teaching Abby some basic machinal skills. It was a strange friendship but one that seemed to work for both of them.

“Raven,” Abby says as she steps out from behind a curtain. “I need to talk to you.”

“Do you know what the hell that was?” Raven asks as she walks to meet Abby, “I’ve been working on drop ship six for a month. There’s no way it malfunctioned,” Raven says as Abby pulls her in to the small office area where records are kept.

“It wasn’t a malfunction,” Abby says in a low voice. “They launched it on purpose.”

“Why the hell would they do that?” Raven asks in shock.

Abby hesitates then says, “I’m going to tell you something Raven, but you cannot tell anyone. You understand?”

“Sure,” Raven says, confused.

“That drop ship was full of people,” Abby whispers.

“What?!” Raven says louder than she means to and swiftly clamps a hand over her mouth.

Abby looks around quickly to see if anyone is nearby but finds that the infirmary is still empty.

“Who the hell was on it?” Raven whispers back after she takes a moment to get her shock under control.

Abby takes a breath before answering, “Everyone that was in lock up.”

The words sink in slowly and for a heartbeat Raven feels light headed. Everyone in lock up, Abby had said. That means Octavia is headed for Earth right now.

“Why would they do that?” Raven whispers the question as tears sting her eyes. “Why would they send them down there now? She still had time…” Raven lets off. Not that she’s had much hope of finding a way to save Octavia, but she had been looking. She’s also been trying to go visit Octavia, but she had refused all visitors, including Raven.

“You have to listen to me very carefully,” Abby was saying, and Raven tried to focus on her words. “We’ve been taking readings from the planet and there’s a chance that it may be habitable again.”

“If there’s a chance why wouldn’t they send down probes or something to get better readings before they sent people down there? Before they sent them down there to die.”

“Raven, we don’t have time,” Abby says softly.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if we don’t do something in the next two weeks we’re going to run out of oxygen,” Abby explains in an amazingly clam voice considering she just told Raven that everyone on the ship is going to die.

“I knew it,” Raven whispers. “When they kicked us out of there last week, I knew something was going on.” She pauses for a moment then asks, “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because they sent my daughter down there,” Abby says and for the first time Raven hears anger in the older woman’s voice. “And they did the same to someone you love, so I knew you’d understand what I’m going to asks you.”

Abby pulls a folded piece of paper out of her inside coat pocket and hands them to Raven, actually it was several sheets of paper. Raven unfolds them and looks at each one before looks back at the doctor.

“These are the schematics for the old escape pods,” Raven says, once again confused. “These things were part of the original stations, they’re over a hundred years old.”

“And they haven’t worked for decades,” Abby confirms, “but you’re also the best mechanic on this ship. Can you do it?”

Raven takes a moment to think before asking, “So you want me to fix up a hundred and twenty year old escape pod so you and I can leave this hunk of metal and go down to a planet that may or may not be covered in radiation to find our loved ones?”

Abby only nods her head.

“Where’s this escape pod at?” Raven asks with a grin that Abby matches.

Four days later Raven watched in horror as Abby was arrested and hauled off to the lock up. She was only a day away from having the escape pod ready, well as ready as it was going to be. They still stood a good chance of dying during re-entry, but it was as good as it could be.

“I’m here to see Abby Griffin,” Raven says to the guard as she signs in to the detention center.

“Make it fast Reyes,” the guard huffs. “She not supposed to have visitors.”

“Thanks,” Raven says as she quickly enters the lock up and heads straight to Abby’s cell.

Looking through the window Raven is surprised to see the cell is covered in drawling’s, really good ones too. Pictures of what she’s seen Earth looked like before the war that destroyed it.

“I didn’t know you were an artist,” Raven says startling Abby who jumps but smiles when she sees Raven.

“I’m not,” Abby admits, “This was my daughter’s cell.”

“These bastards are sadistic,” Raven hisses. “How are you holding up?”

“As good as possible,” Abby sighs. “You shouldn’t be here though.”

“You know, the last person I came to visit here said the exact same thing,” Raven sighs. “Was Bellamy on that drop ship?” she asks and when Abby doesn’t answer she huffs out a tired laugh. “That bastard. He actually shot Jaha?”

“Yes,” Abby says with a sad nod.

“No wonder he’s been avoiding me,” Raven sighs. “I just wanted to let you know that the escape pod will be ready by tomorrow.”

“That’s great Raven,” Abby smiles again, “You need to get off this station.”

“We were supposed to go together,” Raven counters.

“No chance of that happening now kiddo,” Abby frowns. “You need to get down there and find everyone that was on the drop ship. Radio back and let them know if it’s safe. They’re going to float three hundred people in two days if they don’t hear anything from the ground.”

“Abby,” Raven starts, wanting to fight but realizing that, once again, she’s powerless to change the situation. “Alright, I’ll get down there and find them. Then I’m going to find a way to save you too.”  
Abby nods with a small smile and Raven heads out of lock up, nodding once to the guard on her way out the door.

Raven doesn’t stop until she reaches the bottom of the station, where her and Abby have tucked the escape pod into an old jettison tube. There’s no way of knowing for sure if the tube will even work but at this point Raven doesn’t care. She has to do something.

There’s no reason for her to stay on this ship a minute longer than she has to. This place has taken everything and everyone she’s ever cared about. Her father had gotten floated for something she can’t even remember anymore, she was only three when he had died. Since then her mother drank to fill the hole that he left and a year ago now Raven had come home and found her. Laying on the floor in the bathroom of their room, not breathing, smelling of the alcohol she loved so much. Now she’s lost Octavia, Bellamy and Abby in such a short amount of time.

“Screw these people,” Raven mutters to herself as she pulls open the door of the escape pod, there were only a few small things left to do. Mainly make sure that the oxygen supply would work and that the hatch would remain closed during re-entry, nothing big.

Raven let her anger drive her through the night, not stopping when she got tired or thirsty or when her fingers began to bleed. She didn’t stop until all the lights on the dash were all light up green, six hours later.

“I got it,” Raven smiles to herself. “I fucking got it!” She looks around, worried for a moment that someone might have heard her but realizes quickly that there’s no one there. With a tired sigh she grabs for the ancient space suit they had dug out and steps in to it.

She does another quick check of all her systems and seals the door to her escape pod closed. She tries to steady her breathing, not wanting to waste any of the oxygen she’s going to need to survive this trip.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Raven says to herself as she places the helmet over her head and secures it in place. “This better work,” she says, her finger hovering over the eject button. With one last breath she pushes it.

There’s a sharp jerk and Raven feels herself falling, a second later she’s floating in space. Unable to suppress the smile that comes over her face, Raven takes a moment to enjoy the view. Though she’s seen the stars countless times from the viewports inside the station, nothing compares to floating among them.

“Alright,” she says, “Let’s see if this thing works.” She quickly punches in the coordinates Abby had given her to where the drop ship had touched down. She just hopes that she managed to get the navigation system working right so she lands at least somewhere close to the others. She gets a green target display on her heads up view and smiles, she’s right on target.

That’s when the pods rocks violently and she knows she’s entering the atmosphere.

“Here comes the fun part,” she mumbles to herself as she tries to keep focused on her landing grid. The pod will get itself there but it’s the only thing she can do now.

The pod rocks again and her head bounces off the side of the helmet, which in turns bounces off the pod. Raven tries to shake her head, but her vision is already growing blurry and Abby had warned her to try and avoid hitting her head again.

The last thing she sees is Octavia, smiling that warm welcoming smile, before everything goes dark around here.

**

“Hey, are you alive?” a voice says through a fog, sounding like it came from a hundred miles away.

Raven jumps awake when she feels something, or someone, tapping on her helmet. She sits up, yanking the helmet off her head and looks at the girl leaning in to the escape. She blonde, with blue eyes Raven knows she’s seen from somewhere before and wear a look of shock on her face.

“Take it easy,” she says trying to calm Raven, who’s eyes were as big as saucers. “Looks like you just had one hell of a trip.”

“You have no idea,” Raven mumbles. A sudden though occurs to her as she looks around her. “I made it, I’m not dead. I’m on Earth,” she says the last part quietly, like she couldn’t believe it.

“Yep,” the girl smiles, stepping down from the pod and offering Raven her hand, “Welcome to Earth. I’m Clarke Griffin.”

“Abby’s daughter?” Raven asks as she accepts the hand and steps out of the pod.

“You know my mother?” Clarke asks, raising her eyebrows in question.

“She’s the reason I’m here,” Raven answers as she steps out of the space suit. “We were working together to get this pod repaired. We needed to know…” Raven lets off as she looks around her.

She’d seen pictures of trees in books and read about them more times than she could count but seeing them in person was something completely different. They towered over them, all green and brown and wonderful. Raven gasped a little as she watches a breeze rustle through the leaves and closes her eyes when she feels it against her skin.

“It’s something isn’t it?” Clarke asks from behind her and when Raven turns around she can see the girl smiling at her.

“It’s amazing,” Raven answers but quickly remembers why she’s here, “The radiation?”

“What little is left doesn’t seem to be bad enough,” Clarke says then shrugs, “None of us have gotten sick so I think it’s safe.”

“We need to contact the Ark,” Raven sys quickly. “They’re going to float three hundred people any day because the oxygen is running out.”

“I know,” Clarke says with a sigh and Raven suddenly understands what it must have been the girl was locked up for knowing. “The radio on the drop ship hasn’t worked since we landed.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Raven smiles as she digs a duffle bag out from inside the pod, the only thing she’d brought with her. “I’m your mechanic,” she adds with a grin.

Clarke’s only response is to smile but it doesn’t last, “My mom, is she?”

“Still alive,” Raven confirms, “Got herself into a bit of trouble but if we can get this radio working, we can fix that too.”

Clarke nods and motions for Raven to follow her back towards the drop ship.

“Things haven’t been perfect since we landed,” Clarke advises her, “and we’ve lost a few people but for the most part we’re making it work.”  
Raven hesitates before asking, “Do you know the Blake siblings?”

Clarke laughs and answers, “Bellamy’s been helping to get things set up, took a little for him to get his head out of his ass but it’s working now. Octavia helped a lot with getting her brother on track.”

“Sounds like them,” Raven responds with a smile. The sound of voices grows closer and Raven can feel her chest tightening in anticipation.

Clarke leads her through a small entry area and Raven feels her mouth drop in surprise. In just a few days they had managed to set up a small, mostly working village.

“I can’t believe you guys have done all this,” Raven says in a stunned voice.

“Like I said,” Clarke smiles stopping and looking at Raven, “It took some work.”

“Reyes!” raven hears a familiar voice and turns to see Bellamy standing at the base of the drop ship, a smile on his face. He runs to meet her, wrapping her in a hug the second he reaches her. When he pulls back, she punches him hard in the shoulder.

“Ow, what the hell was that for?” Bellamy says, still smiling.

“For not telling me you knew what was going to happen, and your plan,” Raven replies, pissed but also relieved to see him again.

“I didn’t know if it was going to work or not,” he answers honestly, “I could have gotten floated and I didn’t want you to get that too. Octavia would have killed me.”

“Where is she?” Raven asks, feeling like her lungs were about to explode.

“Behind you,” he smiles, and Raven turns around in time to see Octavia step down of f the ramp of the drop ship.

The moment Octavia sees her she sprints towards her, smile on her face. A smile springs instantly to Raven’s face and she lets her bag slip off her shoulder, landing softly on the ground beside her. Opening her arms, she catches Octavia as the girl throws herself in to Raven’s outstretched arms. Raven wraps her arms around Octavia’s waist, Octavia’s arms wrapped around her neck, and pulls her as close as possible.

Raven buries her face in Octavia’s neck, breathing her in deeply, and feeling her lungs finally fill with air again.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” Raven says in a soft voice, trying to fight back tears.

“How did you get here?” Octavia asks, pulling back just enough to look at Raven.

Raven laughs and answers, “I repaired a hundred and twenty year old escape pod and jettisoned myself out of the Ark.”

“You’re crazy,” Octavia laughs.

“I think you like me because I’m crazy,” Raven fires back, just like she did a few weeks ago on the Ark.

“You have no idea,” Octavia answers with a smile, gently placing a hand on Raven’s cheek. “I’m so sorry,” she starts to say but Raven silences her by closing the small space between them and lightly kissing her.

“I love you,” Raven says a moment later, when they break a part. “I should have said it sooner.”

“I love you too,” Octavia answers with a smile. Octavia rests her forehead on Raven’s, and they take a moment to just share each other’s space.

Raven sighs and reluctantly pulls back from Octavia, keeping an arm wrapped around the other girl’s waist she looks at Bellamy.

“I need to see your radio,” she tells him and watches as his face falls.

“It’s broken,” he says simply.

“Right and I’m here to fix it,” Raven answers watching as Bellamy’s face clouds. “Look, this isn’t about the dumbass stunt you pulled up there. If we don’t get word back to the Ark that Earth is livable, they’re going to float three hundred people.”

“What? Why would they do that?” Octavia asks, her arms still lightly resting on Raven’s in a lose kind of hug.

“The oxygen is about to run out,” Raven sighs, “That’s why you were all sent down here.”

“What stunt?” Clarke asks, hands on her hips, looking at Bellamy who refuses to meet her eyes.

“He shot Jaha,” Raven answers for him, “so he could get on the drop ship. Didn’t kill him though and now he’s worried if they bring the Ark down here, he’s going to get in trouble.”

“What the hell were you thinking?” Octavia asks, stepping away from Raven to stand in front of her brother. Realization dawns on Octavia and she says, “The radio didn’t break did it? You did something to it.”

“O it was the only way I could make sure I got on that ship,” Bellamy tries to explain.

“We can’t let all those people die,” Octavia counters. “What did you do to the radio?”

“I honestly don’t know,” he shrugged. “I basically pulled out whatever looked important and smashed it.”

“Luckily I brought enough spare parts with me to almost build a new radio,” Raven says as she bends down to grab her bag, a sudden dizzy spell making her stumble and her vision blur. She drops to one knee and feels Octavia at her side in an instant.

“What’s wrong?” Octavia says worriedly.

“Just a little dizzy,” Raven says forcing a smile despite the pain in her head.

“Did you hit your head on the way down?” Clarke says as she squats down in front of Raven.

“At least once,” Raven admits, “and once a few days ago. Funny story, that’s how I met your mom,” she adds with a small chuckle.

“You probably have a concussion,” Clarke says, “You need to lay down and rest for a while.”

“I need to get that radio working,” Raven argues as Clarke and Octavia help her back to her feet.

“You’re not in a condition to do much of anything right now,” Clarke counters. “You’d probably just hurt yourself and might even make the radio worse.”

Raven goes to argue but Octavia cuts her off, “Come on, you can lay down in my tent.” Octavia slings Raven’s arm over her shoulder and all but drags her towards a tent in the back of camp. Raven sees Clarke step up to Bellamy, arms crossed and knows that will not be a good conversation.

They walk together to the back of the camp, Raven still in awe of how much they’d managed in a short time. Octavia lifts the flap of her tent and they walk inside together. There wasn’t much to it, a bed made from empty creates, covered with part of one of the parachutes the drop ship would have used during touchdown.

“It’s not much,” Octavia says as she moves to a small table and pours some water into a metal cup, “but it sure beats living under the floor.”

“It’s so amazing here,” Raven says as she sits on the edge of Octavia’s makeshift bed. “More beautiful than I could have imagined.”

“I know what you mean,” Octavia says, and Raven realizes she’s looking at her. “You need to lay down though. Re-entry is rough and I can’t imagine it was easy in an old escape pod.” Octavia holds out the cup for Raven.

“Wouldn’t know,” Raven shrugs taking the offered cup of water. “Got knocked out as I was hitting the atmosphere.” She takes a sip of the water, letting it sit on her tongue for a moment. “This is so much better than the recycled water on the Ark.”

“Just wait until you see the forest at night,” Octavia smiles, taking the cup back and setting it down. She then bends down and starts pulling off Raven’s boots. “But for right now, you’re going to lay down.”

Raven can’t help but smile, it’s felt like years since she’s seen Octavia, but the girl hadn’t changed much at all.

“Will you stay with me?” Raven asks as she lays down, resting her head on the small pillow.

“Baby, there’s no way I’m letting you out of my sight for a very long time,” Octavia says, slipping her own boots off. She slides into the bed next to Raven, laying her head on Raven’s shoulder and sighs contently.

“That’s the first time you’ve ever called me that,” Raven smiles as she pulls Octavia closer.

Octavia hums and slips her hand under the bottom of Raven’s shirt, resting it on the skin of her stomach, “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too,” Raven answers sighing happily. “You’re going to have to fill me in and life down here.”

Octavia chuckles darkly and says, “You’re going to need to rest before we get in to that.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Raven mumbles but she can barely keep her eyes open.

“Rest love,” Octavia says, placing a gently kiss on Raven’s collar bone. “We have time now.”


End file.
